THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, May 12, 1857. 
0 , 
if it has a single spot on the hackle the whole pen is dis¬ 
qualified. 
But 1 am trespassing on your space, and therefore, after 
saying a few more words on this beautiful class of fowls, I 
must conclude. May I ask the questions, Why are not the 
Hamburgh fowls more generally kept? and why do not per¬ 
sons who do keep fowls keep one sort, unless they have the 
different breeds apart ? 
Let me also endeavour to impress upon the minds of some 
that it is as cheap and as little trouble to keep good fowls as 
mongrels. Of course, let each person choose the sort he 
likes best, or the sort which suits his locality. Cochins are 
best for a confined space ; Hamburghs where there is plenty 
of room, and I say Game for a farmyard; but I cannot enu¬ 
merate all the different breeds.—A Hamburgh Fancier. 
RABBIT HUTCHES. 
My hutches are double storied, four feet long, two feet 
wide, and five feet high, the entire structure resting on 
small iron castors, and being not unlike a chest of drawers 
in outline, with the top slightly sloping towards the front. 
The lower compartment is two feet from the ground, and 
the bottom is composed of narrow splints of deal two inches 
wide, rounded at the edges, with an interval between them 
of an eighth of an inch, to allow the urine to pass through. 
Beneath this bottom is a second, sloping from front to back, 
and composed of a single sheet of galvanised iron. By this 
means the urine readily runs off into a gutter placed at the 
back, and is conveyed from thence into a pail for removal. 
The iron bottom rests on rafters, and is made to shift, for 
the purpose of being washed from time to time as necessity 
may require. 
The upper story is simply a repeat of the lower one; but 
it is equally certain that no moisture can pass through 
into it. 
Between the top and the roof or ceiling of the upper 
story is a receptacle for corn; the top, hung on hinges, 
forms the lid. 
The entire front of the hutch is formed of frames of 
galvanised wirework, and impervious to mice. 
These frames, suspended on hinges, serve as doors. 
To prevent the wood from absorbing the moisture, the 
floor and sides are brushed over with boiled oil, containing 
a little umber, to which, when dry, is added a coat of 
varnish. 
Nothing can be more satisfactory than a structure of this 
kind, affording the animals complete dryness and free 
ventilation, and easy of access for all purposes. 
With regard to expense, less than 50s. will cover the 
outlay for such an one; and surely the well-doing of our 
valuable animals should be the first consideration, leaving 
“ old barrels or tea-chests ” to their admirers.— Amateur. 
PIGEONS. 
Class 4. — PIGEONS WITH WHIRLING FLIGHTS 
( Columba in gyruni Jlectens). 
Fretlch. German. 
Pigeons Tournans. Der Ring Schlager. 
The Pigeons which I place in this class are, I believe, 
now extinct in this country, and I have only seen one pair, 
which were at a Pigeon dealer’s in Coblentz. They were 
common-looking birds, with small peaked crowns and red 
and white plumage. They were shown me by the name of 
Ring Schliigen Tauben; their peculiar movements and 
circling flight were described to me, and they were repre¬ 
sented as exceedingly productive. As they were closely 
confined I had no opportunity of witnessing their antics, 
but I noticed that the vanes were beaten off the ends of the 
flight feathers. I have not met with any description of them 
among the German writings on Pigeons. 
MM. Boitard and Corbie, in their work “ Les Pigeons de 
Voliere et de Colombier,” published at Paris, 1824, describe 
a variety of this class under the name of “ Pigeons 
Tournans’’ (Gglumha gyrans ), which are rather stouter than 
a common Tumbler, the eyes black, with a narrow cere, and 
the feet shod. It would appear that these birds are rare, 
for they further say that for a long time the amateurs 
have renounced this bird on account of their flying in 
circles, even in the dovecot, as well as from their jealous 
character, which they think causes much derangement in 
the aviary. 
The common Tournant is grey, with black spots on the 
wings (chequered?); also red or pearl white, with a white 
horseshoe mark on the back, and they frequently break 
some of the wing feathers with the violence of their move¬ 
ments. The engraving is from the French design. 
Although I have never seen any of this class of Pigeons 
in England, and believe them at present extinct here, yet 
we have descriptions of them under the names of Smiter, 
Turner, and Finnikin, which may be regarded as three 
varieties or degrees of comparison. 
The Smiter is in the positive case a strange-flying Pigeon. 
See Girtin, p. 107:—“ This Pigeon in shape, make, and 
diversity of plumage, nearly resembles the Tumbler, the 
size excepted, it being a much larger bird. The Smiter is 
supposed to be the same species (variety ?) that the Dutch 
call the Drager. When it flies it has a peculiar tremulous 
motion with its wings, and commonly rises in a circular 
manner, the male, for the generality, flying much higher 
than the female; and though it does not tumble it has a 
particular manner of falling and flapping its wings, with 
which it makes so loud a noise as to be heard at a great 
distance, which is frequently the cause of its shattering and 
breaking its quill feathers.” 
The Turner may be regarded as the comparative case, 
or intermediate variety, being a stranger-flying Pigeon, 
though, from Mr. Moore’s description, it seems" closely to 
resemble the Smiter:—“ This Pigeon is like the Finnikin, 
except that when it is salacious and plays to the female it 
turns only one way, whereas the other turns both ; it has no 
tuft on the back of the head, neither is it snake-headed.” 
The Finnikin then takes the position of the superlative 
case, or the Pigeon with the manner of flying, whirling, 
turning, undulating, and pouncing in the strangest possible 
style. Mr. Moore’s description of the Finnikin is as follows:— 
“ This Pigeon is in make and shape very like a common 
Runt, and much about the same size; the crown of the 
head is turned much after the manner of a snake’s head; it 
is gravel-eyed, and has a tuft of feathers on the hinder part 
of the crown, which run down its neck not unlike a horse’s 
mane. It is clean-footed and legged, and always black and 
blue pied. When it is salacious it rises over its hen and 
turns round three or four times, flapping its wings, then 
reverses and turns a£ many the other way. 
“Were a gentleman in the country to stock a dovehouse 
with this sort of Pigeon, their whimsical gestures might 
